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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28119636">but if you really hold me tight (all the way home i'll be warm)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/shuuuliet/pseuds/shuuuliet'>shuuuliet</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>the most wonderful time of the year (merry psychmas) [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Psych (TV 2006)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Christmas, Cold, F/M, Hypothermia, Scared Shawn, Shules, Snow, blizzard, i don't think i ever address if they catch the perp or not but w/e, it doesn't snow in santa barbara so they are...unprepared to experience weather, lost juliet, pre-relationship shules, snowstorm, worried lassiter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 23:48:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,800</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28119636</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/shuuuliet/pseuds/shuuuliet</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When Juliet and Lassiter get caught in a blizzard in the woods while tailing a suspect, Juliet falls down a ravine, away from Lassiter, and even worse, away from warmth and safety. Can Shawn and the gang find her before it's too late?</p><p>Set in Season 4.</p><p>Written for "12 Days of Psychmas", Day 3.<br/>Prompt: Snow/Cold</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Juliet O'Hara/Shawn Spencer</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>the most wonderful time of the year (merry psychmas) [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2060061</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>12 Days of Psychmas 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>but if you really hold me tight (all the way home i'll be warm)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Well, this ended up being way longer than I expected it to be. I don’t think I’ll end up doing every prompt, so I’ve been trying to fit a couple of them in each story.</p><p>I didn’t expect to take the story in this direction when I first saw the prompt, either, but here we are. Hope you enjoy it!</p><p>As always, I own nothing. Title comes from “Let it Snow”, because the weather in this really is frightful…just ask Jules. Here goes:</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The last thing Juliet remembers before the world stops is feeling cold, so cold.</p><p>She wasn’t used to the cold, the snow—living in Miami and then Santa Barbara had given her no chance to adjust to it—and maybe that was why she had been so unprepared.</p><p>It didn’t snow in Santa Barbara, after all. But it did snow by Big Bear Lake, where she and Lassiter had tailed a person of interest. They were out of their jurisdiction in Big Bear—well out of their jurisdiction, in fact—but since it was their case and their suspect, they’d been lead there anyway.</p><p>But it had been a long time since she’d seen Lassiter. She wasn’t sure how long—her brain had started feeling fuzzy a while ago, back when she’d started to realize that she wasn’t just cold, but dangerously cold. She and Lassiter had been separated in the woods, a sudden snowstorm coming out of nowhere, the snow falling too thick and fast for them to find their way back to one another, and she’d fallen down a ravine, snow leaking into her coat and boots as she fell, chilling her to the bone, though she was thankfully otherwise uninjured.</p><p>She was worried about her partner—she hadn’t seen him since she fell--but she also knew that he had survival skills that she likely didn’t have. And besides, she was now too cold to think about much else besides how cold she was. She needed to find shelter, and fast, but the snow was coming down even more quickly now, and there was no guarantee that there was any shelter nearby. Even if there was, it could well be the same place their suspect was hiding out, and she knew she no longer had the energy for much of a fight.</p><p>She hasn’t been able to get a cell signal, either; not since she was with Lassiter. She’s tried to call him a dozen times, but to no avail. She just has to hope he’s having better luck than she is, that wherever he is is closer to safety and warmth.</p><p>She stumbles through the snow, no longer sure if she’s walking in circles or even making any kind of headway. She has to find somewhere warm, even if it’s a cave. At this point, she’d gladly bunk with their suspect, because at least she would be warm, at least she’d have a chance to stay alive.</p><p>/\/\/\/\/\</p><p>
  <em>Earlier</em>
</p><p>Her ringing phone startles Juliet, causing her fingers to jump a little on the map she’s holding. Digging it out of her coat pocket, she looks at the Caller ID. “Shawn,” it says.</p><p>She pauses for a moment, not sure if she wants to answer. Things with Shawn have been weird lately, ever since Abigail left for Uganda. She’s not sure where they stand anymore, and if she’s honest with herself, she hasn’t been sure where they stood for a long time, ever since that night at the drive-in when he’d broken her heart.</p><p>But he’d been coming around more lately, been falling back into their old routines of hanging out and chatting, and even though she had no idea what he was feeling, it had been hard on her heart. It was still hard to be around him, after all, even after the rejection. Even after everything, she was still in love with him--her heart hadn’t seemed to quite catch up with her mind, even though her mind had long been trying to convince her to give up on him.</p><p>But he was <em>Shawn</em>, and deep down, she knew that he might not be someone she could ever give up on.</p><p>“You gonna answer that, O’Hara?” Lassiter asks from the driver’s seat, startling her out of her reflection.</p><p>“It’s Shawn,” she says. “I guess I’ll see what he wants.”</p><p>She answers, just before the last ring. “Shawn? What’s up?”</p><p>“What do you say, Jules? <em>Die Hard</em> marathon? It <em>is</em> a Christmas movie, no matter what Gus says, and we were thinking Bad Santa after that--.”</p><p>“I can’t, Shawn,” she says. “Carlton and I are chasing a suspect to Big Bear, and it’s really important.”</p><p>“Jules,” he says, “it’s Christmas Eve. Even Santa doesn’t work this hard on Christmas Eve.”</p><p>“Shawn, Christmas Eve is Santa’s busiest day of the <em>year</em>,” she argues, rolling her eyes at the ridiculousness of having this conversation, and ignoring the smirk on Lassiter’s face.</p><p>“That’s…fair,” he says. “But his elves are done working by then, and technically since Chief Vick is in charge, that makes you--.”</p><p>She tries not to laugh. “I have to go,” she says, cutting him off. “This is a really good lead.”</p><p>“But all the way in Big Bear? You’re going to end up spending all of Christmas with <em>Lassie</em>, and if Vick is Santa, and you’re an elf, that means Lassie can <em>only</em> be the Grinch, not that he even needs you two to fill those roles for him to fill that one--.”</p><p>“Big Bear?” Gus says from the driver’s seat. “There’s supposed to be a crazy storm headed there. The forecast looked brutal.”</p><p>“Gus says there’s a storm coming, and you hate the cold,” Shawn says into the phone.</p><p>“I said a <em>brutal</em> storm,” Gus clarifies.</p><p>“Brutal storm,” Shawn repeats. “Which is another reason you guys should just take the day off and jump in on our marathon.”</p><p>“We know,” she says, sounding distracted, “but we think we can beat the storm; we have to nab this guy. Carlton, turn here. No, not there--.”</p><p>“Maybe he’ll call a cross fire for Christmas, didn’t they do that in some war?”</p><p>“Ceasefire,” Gus says loudly next to him. “Crossfire is pretty much the opposite of that, and no, you have not heard it both ways.”</p><p>“What Gus said,” Juliet says, laughing, her voice sounding a little static-y. “Look, Shawn, I have to go, service gets spotty up in the mountains, and I have to help Carlton navigate if we’re going to beat the snow. Merry Christmas! Tell Gus too, okay?”</p><p>Shawn sighs. “Merry Christmas, Jules.”</p><p>He hangs up. Something isn’t sitting well with him; there’s a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Juliet hates the cold, and if the storm is really as bad as Gus said it would be, that’s not a good sign. Especially since Lassie is apparently already not doing so great with the navigations. He sighs again.</p><p>“Change of plans, Gus, we have to go, too.”</p><p>“What? Shawn, we haven’t been hired on the case! Besides, I have stuff to do at my real job, you know I have to get things done before everyone goes off for the holidays!”</p><p>Shawn shakes his head. “I just have a bad feeling about this, I can’t explain it.”</p><p>“You know you’re not really psychic, right?”</p><p>The look Shawn gives him in response is so serious, so I’m-not-messing-around, so un-Shawn, that Gus falls silent. “Okay,” he says gently, “we’ll go.”</p><p>/\/\/\/\/\</p><p>
  <em>Now</em>
</p><p>“Lassie’s calling,” Shawn says to Gus, as he looks down at his phone. The sinking feeling in his stomach is back—well, it hasn’t really left since he spoke to Juliet earlier, and something tells him it has nothing to do with the large portions of tapioca pudding he and Gus had eaten as a car snack. He shakes his head. There’s no reason to assume anything is wrong just because Lassiter is calling; maybe his heart has grown three sizes and he just wants to say Merry Christmas.</p><p>“Lassie!” he answers, disguising the anxiety he’s feeling, “How’s our local Abominable Snowman?”</p><p>Lassiter ignores the comment, confirming Shawn’s fear. “Spencer, I can’t find O’Hara. I can’t get a hold of her on her cell phone, and there’s a blizzard out here, you can’t see anything. It’s been too long. If she’s stuck somewhere--,” Lassiter’s voice breaks, the uncharacteristic emotion from him terrifying Shawn.</p><p>Lassiter clears his throat. “I just need to know if you…sense anything, if you have anything I might be able to use, any leads at all.”</p><p>Shawn shakes his head, unable to process. “I’m not getting anything, Lassie, but Gus and I are almost there. We’ll help you look. We’ll find her. I might…maybe I’ll sense something when I’m there.” He knows it’s a lie, knows that whatever observational powers he might have are no use to him in a blizzard, but he also knows that Lassiter needs to hear the lie, that he himself needs to hear his own voice saying it.</p><p>“The storm came out of nowhere,” he says. “We had just been saying that maybe we should turn back, but I turned around and she was gone.” He pauses, swallowing. “There was a ravine nearby. I know this kind of terrain; O’Hara doesn’t. I’m afraid she might have fallen.”</p><p>Shawn lets out a breath. “I’m sure she’s fine, she’s just not used to snow. Gus and I will meet you there, we’ll find her in no time. Where are you?”</p><p>“I’m at the Ranger Station off of Highway 18 and Forest Road 3N.”</p><p>“Copy.” Shawn says. “We’ll be right there, Lassie.” Then—more for himself than for Lassiter, he continues, “Jules is smart, she’ll be fine.”</p><p>“I know,” he says, but he sounds like he doesn’t.</p><p>Shawn hangs up, turning to Gus, his throat suddenly dry and hollow. “I knew it, Jules is in trouble. Drive faster, Gus. We need—we need to find her.”</p><p>Gus nods, knowing now is not the time to tell Shawn that the Blueberry can’t go fast in the snow, and especially not in the mountains surrounding Big Bear. “We’ll get there, Shawn. We’re almost there. She’s going to be okay.”</p><p>Shawn nods wordlessly, his fingers drumming against the windowpane absentmindedly. Gus hates it when he does that, but now isn’t the time to call him out on it. Now, he’s not doing it to bug Gus. In fact, if Gus were to put money on it, he’d bet Shawn isn’t aware he’s doing it at all.</p><p>“Gus,” Shawn says quietly as the sky darkens around them, a sign that they’re getting closer to Big Bear, “it’s Christmas Eve, and it’s getting late. If we don’t find her, who else will?”</p><p>“We’ll find her, Shawn.” Gus says firmly, hoping his voice doesn’t display any of the panic that’s slowly overtaking him.</p><p>“I’m going to try and call her,” Shawn says. “I know Lassie couldn’t get a hold of her, but maybe her signal’s going in and out, maybe I’ll get lucky with her,” he pauses, then frowns. “You know what, that’s really not what I envisioned using the phrase ‘get lucky with Jules’ for.”</p><p>Gus gives him a chuckle, because he knows Shawn needs to hear it, and is rewarded with a half-smile from his best friend, who then turns back to his phone, pushing his speed dial and then pressing it to his ear.</p><p>/\/\/\/\/\</p><p>Juliet doesn’t know how long she’s been moving towards the faint light, nor can she really tell how far away it still is. She’s close enough to see the source of it, though, Christmas lights on some kind of cabin.</p><p>She stumbles towards them. Christmas lights are a sign of hope, aren’t they? Haven’t they always been? And yet, they’re still so agonizingly far away. She falls in the snow in front of her again, unsure if she has the strength to pick herself back up. Finally, she urges herself up, reaching a half-standing position.</p><p>As she stands, her phone falls out of her pocket into the snow, just as it rings. She’s not sure when the last time it occurred to her that she <em>has</em> a cell phone was. Everything feels slowed down. It takes her several tries fumbling with the buttons before it seems to connect.</p><p>“Jules, where are you? Are you okay?” Shawn’s voice is panicked, sounding so unlike him, that were she in her right mind, she would have been alarmed.</p><p>“Shawn,” she says, no longer sure if she’s awake or dreaming, “Shawn, the Christmas lights--.”</p><p>And then she falls, and the world stops.</p><p>/\/\/\/\/\</p><p>The world comes back, in meaningless flashes—someone yelling, “she’s here, I’ve got her!”, and then a weightlessness, like she’s been lifted up. Her eyelids are too heavy to move, and eventually she stops trying to open them. The cold is still there—or is it? It’s hard to tell. She wonders if she’s actually warm, or if this strange heat is the sensation of being so cold that she’s warmed by numbness. No matter. If it’s the first, she’s content to lie in it, and if the second, she lacks the energy to do anything about it.</p><p> “We’ve got to get her warm, bring her inside!,” a voice yells. The voice is familiar, but she can’t place it now, can’t think of a single person she knows. Well, there’s one. She can picture him still, and it’s a little comforting, softening the edges of the confusion and fear just a little somehow. It’s strange that he would be the only thing she remembers. Well, him and some Christmas lights. She wonders if she ever reached them, but she can’t remember. It’s all too much. The world fades away again.</p><p>/\/\/\/\/\</p><p>The first thing Juliet feels when the world starts moving again, <em>really</em> moving again, is warmth, so much warmth. There’s a blanket tucked tightly around her, and the heat and smell of a nearby fireplace. Yet the warmth seems to be more than that; she feels like she’s being cradled by someone, like someone is holding onto her tightly.</p><p>As she drifts towards consciousness, she wonders again if she’s dreaming, or if maybe this is what death feels like. If it is, it’s a shame more people don’t believe in a happy afterlife—this isn’t scary at all. In fact, it’s pretty much the opposite of scary.</p><p>She tries to open her eyes, but her eyelids still feel heavy. Okay, so <em>that’s</em> a little scary.</p><p>She fights to open them again, and it’s easier this time.</p><p>A face swims above her, hazel eyes discolored by fear, and the voice she knows—the one voice she could remember earlier—cries out. “Jules? Jules? Oh my God!” The arms holding her tighten, and she realizes all at once that she <em>is</em> being held, as well as who it must be who’s doing the holding.</p><p>He lifts her gently, pressing her to his chest. “Jules, thank God.” His lips are on her hair, then on her forehead. “Oh wow, Jules, you scared me. You’re okay! Oh, thank God.”</p><p>“Shawn?” she says, trying to process, her voice sounding heavy, unfamiliar to her own ears, slick with the sleep that’s held her for she doesn’t even know how long. She frowns in confusion. “What’s going on? Where are we?”</p><p>“Hey, it’s okay,” he says, “you’re okay, I’ve got you. You’re safe now. You got too cold,” he says, by way of explanation.</p><p>She frowns. “The Christmas lights--.”</p><p>“Yes,” he says, nodding. “You gave me exactly what we needed to find you. Lassie and I got there a few minutes after I talked to you, he knew the cabin you must have seen. You—you passed out.” His forehead creases with worry as he remembers. “But you were so close to this cabin, and we found you, and that’s where we are now. Lassie’s briefing the Chief now, and Gus is with the guy that owns this place, waiting on the doctor.”</p><p>She frowns, turning her head. “The doctor?”</p><p>“You’re going to be fine,” he says reassuringly, “don’t worry. But we need to have someone look at you. You were so cold, and you were out for…awhile.”</p><p>She nods. “Thank you for coming to find me,” she says softly, because it seems like the next right thing.</p><p>He shakes his head. “Of course, Jules. I’ll—I’ll always come find you.”</p><p>She turns her head again, her eyes catching on a tree in the corner of the room, next to the fireplace, its bright lights—like she’d thought before—a sign of hope, as her brain starts to catch up to everything. She’s warm, she’s made it to shelter at last, and more than that, she’s here with Shawn, wrapped up in his arms, which she hadn’t even let herself imagine, not even when she thought she was dying. There’s no need to panic anymore.</p><p>She takes a deep breath, letting herself relax into Shawn’s embrace, feeling the warmth of his eyes on her, his protective arms still holding her close. Then, something occurs to her, as she looks at the tree. “Shawn, is it Christmas now?”</p><p>“It’s Christmas, Jules,” he says, smiling, hugging her more tightly to him. “And you’re safe now.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks so much for reading, as always! This is a little change of pace from what I usually write, but I had fun with it! I would love to know any thoughts you may have in the comments!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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